


Larger Than Life

by blynninja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Other, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 02:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11797008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blynninja/pseuds/blynninja
Summary: Matt reflects on Katie's birth.





	Larger Than Life

Katie had been small her whole life; she’d been born that way.

Matt had been five when Katie had been born, so he remembered his grandmother showing up at bedtime to stay with him as Mom and Dad had rushed to the hospital.

Grandma had said Mom was sick, and Matt had begged for more details, but Grandma hadn’t known all the details, had just insisted he get into bed and get some sleep, and Mom and Dad would be home in the morning.

Instead, he and Grandma had headed to the hospital, where Dad had met them in the lobby, looking a little worried and very tired.

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Matt had asked, frowning as Dad had bent down to hug him.

“The baby came early,” Dad had explained, and Matt had frowned further, doing the math.

“Too early! Is—Did—Is Mom okay?” Matt had sputtered, not knowing what else to ask.

“Mom will be fine in a day or two, she’s just very tired,” Dad had explained. “They had to do surgery to keep her and the baby safe.”

Matt had blinked. “So… the baby’s okay?”

Dad had smiled. “Yes, would you like to meet her?”

Matt could remember the feeling of his eyes going wide as he’d asked, “I have a sister?”

Dad had smiled even brighter, and that had begun their journey in the NICU.

Katie had been tiny, that was for sure.

She’d been nearly three months early because their mother had contracted preeclampsia, which was also known as toxemia. Her case had been severe enough that both their lives had been in danger and Mom and Dad had agreed to have the doctors deliver Katie and do everything they could to save both of them.

They’d spent months visiting Katie in the NICU, waiting for her to get bigger and healthier. Each milestone (breathing on her own, weight gains, etc) had been cause for celebration, and Matt had marveled at the way a preemie could grow and change in an isolette unit the same way as inside a mom. It was fascinating, watching Katie grow the way she should have done in the womb instead in a hospital, surrounded by people who brought in cupcakes and stuffed animals for each milestone his baby sister reached.

Matt had pestered the nurses with question after question, wanting to know everything possible about Katie’s condition and growth. Several of the nurses had gotten tired of him right away, but a handful had always smiled genuinely when they saw him approaching and would answer his questions as simply as they could, until one realized Matt’s brain processed better than most five-year-olds’ and had begun helping him learn all of the medical terminology.

Looking back on it, Matt figured that was part of the reason he’d developed such a love for science. He’d loved science since he could read, but learning terminology from such attentive and warm nurses had instilled in him a deeper love for the subject.

Katie had come home with them about three months later, when she had reached her actual full term status and a good weight and all of the progress that came along with it.

She’d been tiny her whole life, never really catching up to her peers, and had been teased for it for quite a lot of years.

And now, watching his still-pretty-tiny sister pilot a giant robot lion, Matt couldn’t help thinking she looked much larger than anyone could ever have imagined.

**Author's Note:**

> Thing I wrote on Tumblr a while back and forgot about until like two days ago:  
> "Consider: preemie Katie/Pidge  
> Born early, never quite caught up to peers in physical growth  
> Mom and Dad Holt spending weeks visiting baby Katie in the NICU and seeing her grow to term measurements in an isolette and waiting to get the okay to take her home.  
> Big brother Matt wanting to know everything about the reasons for her prematurity and asking the nurses questions when he comes to visit and learning all the science and medical jargon his little brain can absorb.  
> Preemie Pidge."
> 
> So this is my story, minus the science-obsessed older sibling and maybe the cupcakes-for-milestones. I don't know all of the details of my time in NICU, just that Mom and Dad only got to visit me on weekends so had to rely on the nurses a whole heck of a lot to care for me and give them updates. I *did*, however, receive a little stuffed elephant from someone that to this day sits on a shelf in my room. I love him and plan to keep him for a very long time.
> 
> I wanted to explore the idea of Pidge being small in part due to birth issues. I've always been shorter and smaller than most of my peers, and while I know it's partly genetics, sometimes I also blame it on my early birth. Wanted to explore that with a fictional character, and Pidge seemed like the one for the job.


End file.
